Scott Brown puts MA home on market, heads for NH

posted at 2:01 pm on December 17, 2013 by Ed Morrissey

Guy covered this in the Green Room, but it’s worth a longer look on the front page, too. Four months ago, former US Senator Scott Brown announced that he would not seek the Republican nomination for governor in Massachusetts. Brown lost his election to stay in the Senate to Elizabeth Warren, but clearly wanted to stay in politics. And now, it’s clear that this doesn’t mean staying in Massachusetts:

Former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown plans to move to New Hampshire, the latest sign that he’s considering a U.S. Senate bid there, which would complicate Democrats’ effort to hold their majority in the chamber.

Brown, 54, has found a buyer for his Wrentham home and is set to close on that deal this week, Andrew I. Glincher, managing partner and chief executive officer at Brown’s employer Nixon Peabody LLP, said in an interview. Brown will continue to work out of the law firm’s Boston office because he isn’t licensed to practice law in New Hampshire, Glincher said.

Brown didn’t respond to an e-mail inquiry.

The move will fuel speculation that Brown intends to challenge New Hampshire’s Democratic U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who is seeking re-election next year. Brown lost his Massachusetts Senate seat to Democrat Elizabeth Warren in 2012.

ABC reports that a super-PAC has already begun buying air time in New Hampshire to support a bid to oppose Shaheen:

A conservative super PAC Ending Spending Inc. has already begun paying for web ads to boost Brown in New Hampshire. And according to ABC News affiliate WMUR, the group has also reserved air time for a spot attacking Sheehan this week.

The ads are timed to coincide with Brown’s scheduled speaking engagement at the New Hampshire Republican holiday party Thursday night.

Brown wouldn’t exactly be a carpetbagger in New Hampshire. He already owns a home in Rye, and while it hasn’t been his primary residence, he spends quite a bit of time there. The legal license issue is probably a technicality at best, or an annoyance of a few months at worst. He will want to fully establish himself in New Hampshire before starting a campaign to represent the state, but this isn’t anything like Alan Keyes flying to Illinois as a last-minute replacement against then-state legislator Barack Obama for a Senate seat in 2004 — although Democrats will certainly make the case that it is.

The question will be whether New Hampshire Republicans will embrace Brown. He had to occupy the center pretty firmly in his attempt to remain viable in Massachusetts, but Granite State Republicans are more libertarian in their drift. John Fund notes that recent polling in New Hampshire shows Brown to be competitive in a general election, but facing some potential headwinds in the primary:

Back in September, the Democratic survey firm Public Policy Polling interviewed several hundred New Hampshire residents and found that Brown would be a formidable contender to New Hampshire’s Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen. The poll found him trailing her by only 48 percent to 44 percent, within the survey’s margin of error. Shaheen, a former governor, only won her first term in the Senate with 52 percent of the vote herself in 2008.

“Brown has a strong chance because the two states are culturally linked through shared sports team enthusiasms and the Boston media market,” says political consultant Andrew Boucher, who grew up in New Hampshire. “About two-thirds of the state already knows Scott Brown very well because they watch Boston TV.”

Of course, since he was one of the more moderate Republicans when he served in the Senate, Brown would first have to get past a GOP primary. Three conservatives — former U.S. senator Bob Smith, former state senator Jim Rubens, and former think-tank director Karen Testerman — are already running in the primary. Smith served two terms in the U.S. Senate, but has been out of office for over a decade. After being ousted from the Senate in a GOP primary, he immediately moved to Florida, where he launched two spectacularly unsuccessful bids for U.S. Senate there. At age 72, he is considered past his sell-by date. Rubens and Testerman haven’t yet shown the ability to raise the big bucks that it would take to challenge a well-funded Brown candidacy. Should more than one conservative run against Brown, it increases the chances of him winning a GOP primary, even if he polls less than a majority of the vote.

The primary will certainly prove interesting. Shaheen will have a tough time regardless of who her opponent turns out to be, thanks to the cratering support for Barack Obama. Brown can at least demonstrate his opposition to ObamaCare and his brief experience as a Senator as pluses for New Hampshire voters, and that may be all they require by the time the rest of the ObamaCare disaster has unfolded over the next year.

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As a rule I don’t like carpetbaggers, because I think they generally will have a harder time winning, but if he thinks he can win in NH, then go for it. I always liked him, even though he’s more moderate than myself. Should have gone for MA Governor instead though.

The question will be whether New Hampshire Republicans will embrace Brown. He had to occupy the center pretty firmly in his attempt to remain viable in Massachusetts, but Granite State Republicans are more libertarian in their drift.

At least Brown already has ties to NH. It isn’t like he’s headed to a state he has never lived and will be relying on outright bribery to get the support necessary to win a Senate seat. I guess the real question is if the NH GOP establishment will embrace Brown as a favorite son or see him as an interloper.

Brown wouldn’t exactly be a carpetbagger in New Hampshire. He already owns a home in Rye, and while it hasn’t been his primary residence, he spends quite a bit of time there. The legal license issue is probably a technicality at best, or an annoyance of a few months at worst. He will want to fully establish himself in New Hampshire before starting a campaign to represent the state, but this isn’t anything like Alan Keyes flying to Illinois as a last-minute replacement against then-state legislator Barack Obama for a Senate seat in 2004 — although Democrats will certainly make the case that it is.

Seriously? Hillary was a New York resident for about 45 minutes before she ran for that Senate seat.

Our country is truly blessed by these dedicated officials who are willing to uproot their families and move to a new state all in order to lend their talents to their fellow citizens in the noble and selfless calling of public service. Where do we get such men?

Brown wouldn’t exactly be a carpetbagger in New Hampshire. He already owns a home in Rye, and while it hasn’t been his primary residence, he spends quite a bit of time there.

The faintest bit of mitigation.

Man, this guy desperateley wants in on the action. And that’s a sorry statement about our political system. Isn’t the intent in a republic for a representative to represent his neighbors, a contituency of people with common concerns emanating from their locale?

Frankly, I hope his primary opponents call him Hillary Not From Chappaqua.

Brownnose voted for Dodd-Frank and FinReg, though libtards tarred him with “watering it down.” He ran a milquetoast campaign against a complete maniac with delusions of being Wakan Tanka and lost. He’s a microcosm of what will happen to the entire GOP/RNC in 2014, because they’re a bunch of undescended testicles.

OT: The more pics of Patty Murray with her pooltoy Paul Ryan on HotAir and elsewhere, the better. She’s the albatross around his neck, since Boner is too cowardly to stick his own out.

Our country is truly blessed by these dedicated officials who are willing to uproot their families and move to a new state all in order to lend their talents to their fellow citizens in the noble and selfless calling of public service. Where do we get such men?

PackerBronco on December 17, 2013 at 2:17 PM

Oh come on! Moving from the Boston area to NH is hardly loading up the Conestoga wagon and heading for the west. MA taxes are so expensive a lot of people live in NH and work in Boston.

I’m just ashamed of you Happy Nomad that you would dare to belittle such a selfless act with your pettiness and cynicism. A Diocletian can retire from public service, but it takes an act of true nobility to soldier on in a strange land despite all of the personal costs. Truly we are blessed in this land to have such men.

An awful campaigner who managed to lose to — and often look nuttier than –the most truly batshit crazy candidate I’ve seen in my lifetime. Eliz. Warren should be trying to give her mangy cats away at a farmer’s market in Loma Linda while talking to the voices in her head — and instead she’s a sitting US Senator, for God’s sake. No thanks, Scott. You’ve done enough damage already.

Brown wouldn’t exactly be a carpetbagger in New Hampshire. He already owns a home in Rye, and while it hasn’t been his primary residence, he spends quite a bit of time there. The legal license issue is probably a technicality at best, or an annoyance of a few months at worst.

Yuck. I actually like Brown, in that he’s a good politician, and he’s what Republicans need to be competitive in deep blue states. But I think this probably will probably end Brown’s political career. A lot of his charm was that he was a Bostonian through and through and didn’t ooze slimy politician. Voters will swallow a lot of crap, but carpetbagging isn’t one of them, and that’s what this effectively is.

I’d feel no different if an Iowa Republican who lost due to the blue tilt of his state moved half a mile west to the Nebraska side of the river and immediately ran for an open Senate seat.

NH resident here. Contributed to Brown’s Senate win. Very disappointed with his positions…
- Dodd/Frank (his excuse Fidelity, largest MA employer wanted it)
- “jobs” bill (always stated he was elected to get jobs for MA residents)
- gun control (yeah it was “assault weapons” but still)

He would be RINO in the dictionary and would not take hard line votes against $pending.

HOWEVER, Jean Shaheen is a full moon bat voting with Reid 100% when it counts. she will kill us on every single Senate vote. Every single one.
Dinosaur losers like recycled Bob Smith are guaranteed to lose.

I’d hold my nose and vote for Brown, but my RINO rule for 2014 is no contribution$ and no work in the campaign.

One does not need to be familiar with NH to recognize and appreciate Scott Brown’s bigness of heart. And I am embarrassed that my fellow citizens on this board would attempt to tarnish this act with the tawdry name of “carpetbagger.”

We need people like Scott Brown back in the US Senate to remove the taint of cronyism and career-ism from that once-laudable body. And if he can’t get elected in NH, I hope he continues to move east or west or southwest or in some direction until he finds a state that can appreciate his unique talents and vision without which we are all truly lost.

One does not need to be familiar with NH to recognize and appreciate Scott Brown’s bigness of heart. And I am embarrassed that my fellow citizens on this board would attempt to tarnish this act with the tawdry name of “carpetbagger.”

We need people like Scott Brown back in the US Senate to remove the taint of cronyism and career-ism from that once-laudable body. And if he can’t get elected in NH, I hope he continues to move east or west or southwest or in some direction until he finds a state that can appreciate his unique talents and vision without which we are all truly lost.

Yuck. I actually like Brown, in that he’s a good politician, and he’s what Republicans need to be competitive in deep blue states. But I think this probably will probably end Brown’s political career. A lot of his charm was that he was a Bostonian through and through and didn’t ooze slimy politician.

LukeinNE on December 17, 2013 at 3:00 PM

No, Scott isn’t “a Bostonian”; he was born in Maine but was raised in Wakefield, which is about 15 miles north of Boston. It’s pretty much a sleepy town with only about 25,000 people, and is perhaps best-known as being the balsa-wood airplane capitol of the world (Guillow). My family lived there in the late 1950s and when I went back for a visit a few years ago to my surprise many of my neighbors back then were still in the same houses 50+ years later. In fact, Wakefield’s population now is within 1,000 people of what it was in 1960. Can you say “stable”?

No, Scott isn’t “a Bostonian”; he was born in Maine but was raised in Wakefield, which is about 15 miles north of Boston. It’s pretty much a sleepy town with only about 25,000 people, and is perhaps best-known as being the balsa-wood airplane capitol of the world (Guillow).

If Wakefield is 15 miles north of Boston, it’s pretty close to the New Hampshire border, and Brown probably had lots of contact with people from southern New Hampshire. Scott Brown might be a better fit for New Hampshire than he was for Massaleftists.

Most Granite Staters won’t care that Brown’s moved in from MA (well, maybe North Country folks, but no one else). A quarter of the state has done the same thing.

The only reasons Brown lost to Warren was because: a) he was up against Presidential Year-level turnout in a state where D’s out number R’s by 2:1; b) Warren had a primetime speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention just before Bill Clinton’s speech that did wonders for her polling among MA Dems; c)he was outspent by $14 million.

From what I’ve seen, Brown is a very good TV & retail politician, but suffered from a perceived lack of depth because his issue positions were so bland, NoLabels-centrist, and milquetoast. Brown can beat Shaheen in NH, particularly in the type of year 2014 is shaping up to be for the Dems.

We already have a BS Republican US Senator Kelly Ayotte. After having been sold a bill of goods by her Scott Brown thinks there must be a bunch of boob up here that I can fool. After all they bought McCain and Romney hook line and sinker. What a mess!
Stay out of NH politics Scott Brown. We have more than enough politicians here that need to be spoon fed.

No, Scott isn’t “a Bostonian”; he was born in Maine but was raised in Wakefield, which is about 15 miles north of Boston. It’s pretty much a sleepy town with only about 25,000 people, and is perhaps best-known as being the balsa-wood airplane capitol of the world (Guillow).

If Wakefield is 15 miles north of Boston, it’s pretty close to the New Hampshire border, and Brown probably had lots of contact with people from southern New Hampshire. Scott Brown might be a better fit for New Hampshire than he was for Massaleftists.

Steve Z on December 17, 2013 at 3:34 PM

Wakefield is where Route 128 (which circles Boston about 10 miles out) intersects with Interstate 93, which runs to NH. It’s about halfway between Boston and the state line.

Speaking of Kelly Ayotte, she was stalked last weekend by someone from the Democrat “opposition research group” American Bridge when she attended a Memorial Service for longtime NH Governor’s Councilor Ray Burton.

…the crowd in attendance at his memorial service on Saturday included a number of politicians, including former New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, and New Hampshire’s two Senators, Kelly Ayotte and Jeanne Shaheen.

Also in attendance was a Democratic “tracker,”someone who follows around candidates with a video camera capturing moments that can potentially be used to attack them later. The tracker was sent by the Super PAC American Bridge to follow around Ayotte.

On Monday, the New Hampshire Republican Party picked up the attack. In a statement posted on the NHGOP website, state GOP Chair Jennifer Horn called it “disgusting that a Democrat-affiliated group like American Bridge would politicize a memorial service and use this non-partisan event to try and score cheap political points.”

-snip-

American Bridge tweeted an apology shortly thereafter. “As a matter of policy, we do not attend those types of events. There was a miscommunication with our staff on the ground in NH. We sincerely apologize & regret the error. Our staff has addressed the issue internally in order to ensure this never happens again,” the group tweeted in two tweets Monday afternoon.